No dry, inaccessible, or tedious history, Nagapriya’s book The Promise of a Sacred World is a joy to read and digest as it not only ‘evokes a personal encounter with Shinran’ (5) through a series of meditations, and arouses our fascination with Amida, the Buddha of ‘boundless light’, ‘the source of liberation and of all existential value’ (49), with inspired readings of the Pure Land scriptures, it also draws our attention to key concepts, ‘concepts that matter for our existence’, which the founder of the True Pure Land School, or Jōdo Shinshū, ‘draws on to disclose his liberative vision’ (6). The Promise of a Sacred World has been a long time in its gestation but it was worth the wait.

Born in the UK in 1969, Nagapriya now lives in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and is the former chair of the Cuernavaca Buddhist Centre, which he helped found. He began practising with the Triratna Buddhist Community and was ordained as a Dharmachari in 1992.  He also co-founded Editorial Dharma-megha, or ‘Buddha Cloud Publishing’, whose mission is to share Buddhist teachings in the Spanish-speaking world. He works as a team member training men from Latin America for ordination into the Triratna Buddhist Order and since 2019 has been a member of the College of Public Preceptors also within Triratna. His approach to a tradition other than Jōdo Shinshū, Nagapriya ‘has … accurately presented Shinran doctrinally as a scholar but also spiritually as a seeker of the Dharma,’ as Pure Land priest Kenneth K. Tanaka writes in his Foreword.

The subtitle of The Promise of a Sacred World is Shinran’s Teaching of Other Power. Back in the thirteenth century Shinran wrote, ‘Birth into the Pure Land has nothing at all to do with the calculation of foolish beings. Since it is completely entrusted to the Primal Vow of the Buddha, it is indeed Other Power. It is ridiculous to try to calculate it in various ways.’ (Complete Works of Shinran, 1997, p. 548, quoted in The Promise of a Sacred World or TPSW, p.174). Not so long ago, Sangharakshita wrote, ‘The path of dependence on self-power is for the spiritually less advanced, and the path of dependence on other-power for the spiritually more advanced’ (Through Buddhist Eyes: Travel Letters, 2000, p.288, TPSW, p.172). In a letter to Nagapriya (January, 2014), Sangharakshita explained, ‘Surrender, or complete letting go of self-power, is extremely difficult, directly opposed as it is to our natural human tendency’ (TPSW, p.175).

At a time when we seem to be living in an AI driven world, many still hang on to the concept that we are still in charge – just. For this control we are forced to ‘make an effort’. Advertisements daily bombard us with the thought that there are ‘essentials’ we need in order to look good and to feel good about ourselves, and we have to work hard to get them. With part of this driven-ness comes the (mis-)concept that we also have to work hard to be enlightened, to ‘get’ enlightenment, whereas the opposite is true.

To receive this other-power we have to let go of self, and surrender to the other-power. In his thoroughly compassionate book, arising from deep contemplation and a shared wisdom Nagapriya writes, ‘To give this [self-power] up in order to entrust ourselves to something that seems unknown … appears to us as menacing, as a big risk. We fear losing control, although our idea of being in control is itself a delusion. Shinran’s teaching of Other Power overturns the logic of our habitual way of functioning. It seems alien, even a threat to our delusion of autonomy and capacity’ (p.175).

Whereas many other writers would be satisfied with meticulous scholarship and a deep-seated desire to share original sources with his reader, Nagapriya goes even further and in each of his sixteen chapters gives his contemporary readers a myriad of ways into Shinran’s thought and teaching as necessary now as it was in the thirteenth century, giving us no less than new perspectives on Buddhism in today’s world, ways of receptivity and liberation. Nagapriya also offers us as an Appendix, ‘A Guide to Shinran’s Writings and Sources’, detailed lists of Shinran’s six works, his Sources and Pure Land masters, and modern day publications.

Published in August 2022, The Promise of a Sacred World has already been described as ‘a foundational stepping stone’, offering ‘a unique and valuable introduction to the Japanese Pure Land master, Shinran’, ‘a truly extraordinary book’. This is the first, full, book-length study I have had the delight of reading, and I am profoundly grateful that Nagapriya has been my guide.  

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Luke Penkett is a member of the Norwich Triratna Sangha. He has been writing books and reviews for over two decades. He has lived as a solitary monk for 25 years. Earlier this year (2024) his abbot released him from his monastic vows in order for him to be welcomed as a Mitra. An avid reader, he is making his way through Sangharakshita's work and the Windhorse Publications collection, and will be posting reviews of some of those books in this space. 

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The Promise of a Sacred World by Nagapriya is available in paperback and eBook formats from the Windhorse Publications website.